HBO's former chairman and chief executive Chris Albrecht was fired after an incident for which he pleaded no contest to battery against his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

(Newser)
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HBO, at 36 years old no longer a bold young upstart of a network, is struggling to come up with hits to match The Sopranos and Sex & The City, the Wall Street Journal reports. Changes in the top ranks have meant shifts in direction: The Texas-set Lily Tomlin drama 12 Miles of Bad Road HBO was ditched after execs saw the first few episodes.

With no advertisers to worry about, HBO's chief concern is keeping its 29 million subscribers happy and fending off competition from rivals like Showtime for viewers—and the best shows. The Time Warner network's new management hopes to get back on track with this year's crop of new series, including True Blood, a vampire drama from the team behind Six Feet Under.